Exploring the Rise of Esports in Frisco
By Stephen Hunt
The numbers surrounding video games or esports are astounding. According to esportsinsider.com, viewership in 2023 was 2.76 billion hours, up 75 percent from 2020. League of Legends, a free online arena battle game introduced in 2009, was live-streamed most at 1.6 billion hours watched, and, according to Global Data, esports is now a $1.6 billion industry.
The numbers in the United States (US) are equally staggering. According to Statista, the US esports industry, which recently eclipsed China as number one, is now worth $871 million and is expected to generate $1.1 billion in revenue in 2024. The US market will see expected average growth of nearly 15 percent between 2024 and 2028 when it will consist of nearly 66 million users.
Think Globally, Act Locally
Since the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex is already home to many industries, it’s not surprising DFW is also a hotbed for esports companies and competitions. In April 2019, the Allen Event Center drew 9,000 spectators for Overwatch League (a professional esports league for the video game Overwatch). In November 2018, the City of Arlington repurposed part of its convention center into Esports Stadium Arlington, a 100,000 square-foot space dedicated to esports, which has since hosted numerous high-profile tournaments, including a Halo event in March 2024, which attracted sellout crowds.
Frisco is currently home to two of the biggest names in esports in Complexity Gaming, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023 and currently fields teams in Counter-Strike, Halo, Madden, and Rocket League, and OpTic Gaming, an organization established in 2006 that has teams in Call of Duty, Overwatch, Rocket League, Halo, and Apex Legends.
Jason Lake is Complexity’s founder and CEO. “Complexity is a diversified multi-gaming organization. Whereas the Dallas Cowboys play football, Complexity participates in up to 12 different games at any time,” Lake said. “That means we are going 24/7, 365. We have gamers participating from Asia to Europe to South America. It’s an exciting and challenging industry to be in. Like the Internet, esports is global, and the fandom is global, so we compete globally.”
Even though esports is a global industry with players across the world, Complexity takes pride in its Frisco roots like in 2023 when it partnered with the RoughRiders for Game Night. “Despite the fact we’re a globally recognized brand, we’ve been honored to make our home in Frisco,” Lake said. “We do all we can to have collaborations with groups like the RoughRiders and feel blessed to have been embraced by such organizations. We hope to continue fostering those relationships.”
Complexity’s Lenovo Legion Esports Center, located at The Star in Frisco, is billed as the premiere facility for the next evolution of esports. It gives Complexity’s competitors everything they need to succeed, including training and practice rooms, a decompression room, a player lounge, a streaming studio, and an innovation lab. Complexity’s facility is also open to the public every weekend.
“Our training rooms replicate what it’s like to play on the big stages of esports around the world. We control all facets from lighting and audio to the temperature of each room and even have a battery backup system if one of our Texas storms knocks the gamers’ power out,” Lake said. “That’s the forward-thinking technology we’ve been able to build.”
Coyle Edmondson is Complexity’s Partnerships Account Manager who previously taught English and esports in Frisco Independent School District (Frisco ISD). He sees the biggest value in Complexity’s facilities in how they impact the community. “We partner [with different organizations] and [host] spring breaks and summer camps. We target children that don’t have access to these facilities and this technology. Introducing them to coding, 3D modeling, animation, esports, even robotics, it’s an asset for not only us, but the community as a whole,” Edmondson said.
A Definite Career Path
Some people of a certain demographic probably once heard their parents tell them that playing video games was a waste of time and would never get them anywhere in life. Well, that’s no longer the case, as some of the world’s top esports competitors make several million dollars a year to do something they love: gaming. Frisco ISD offers esports classes at several schools to students interested in pursuing a career in the field. “I taught the esports program at Frisco ISD. It’s important to be a pioneer,” Edmondson said. “We’re looking at a billion-dollar industry, and it starts with the kids.”
“It starts with them fostering those passions and being able to get in at the ground level. It’s very important to foster those hobbies and curiosities. Not everyone can be an athlete, can dunk a basketball, but it’s nice to give them those opportunities and show them there’s a whole other industry that can be built around those hobbies and passions. If someone’s passionate about what they’re doing and what they’re learning, then you can foster that growth. It paves the way for these young men and women to be successful,” Edmondson explained.
Wes Dennis teaches esports at Frisco Independence High School and sees classes like his only growing in popularity. “We have more interest in esports because schools are more open to students participating. Our district is evolving as the sport evolves,” Dennis said.
“We are opening the esports lab at the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center next year. This will provide more opportunities for students in class and competition. Students are able to dive into the business of esports through the esports track we offer. Intro to Esports overviews the business and team aspects. Esports Management and Production gives students the skills to run a tournament.”
Dennis also discussed how Frisco schools continue adding esports teams. In early May 2024, 17 students traveled to San Antonio to compete at the largest in-person high school esports tournament in the state, the TexSEF Undisputed Esports Championship.
Another focus of the district’s esports curriculum is showing students that being a gamer isn’t their only option in the industry. Dennis steers students to a book by Connor Alne, 100 Jobs in Esports, to illustrate these other opportunities. “There are jobs in all fields. We tell them it is about the training they are receiving, and if they want to work in esports, there are opportunities,” Dennis said.
David Loosli teaches esports at Frisco ISD’s Career and Technical Education Center and emphasizes esports are no game in the district. “With the growing popularity of esports, opportunities from gameplay to coaching to communication are growing worldwide. Esports is more than just showing up to class and playing video games,” Loosli said. “High school esports are opening doors for students to expand their comfort zones and develop necessary life skills. Students work on real-life applications in areas such as audio-visual production, branding, broadcast commentating, business marketing, digital design, graphic design, project management, teamwork, and more.”
And should students want to pursue esports in college, there are now plenty of options on that front. The first university with an esports program was California-Irvine in September 2016. Since then, numerous schools have followed suit, including many in DFW. Southern Methodist University (SMU) offers an Esports Business Management Certificate, while other area institutions like Texas Christian University (TCU), the University of North Texas (UNT), the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), and the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) have esports programs and/or esports teams.
The Greatest Job in the World?
Several local professional sports franchises like the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FC Dallas (FCD) of Major League Soccer (MLS), which plays at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, have their own esports competitors. One of those is Alan Avila, 27, FCD’s eMLS homegrown player since 2018. “I have a really awesome job. Really blessed to be doing what I love, something I grew up enjoying, loving, and now that it’s my job, it’s honestly a dream come true,” Avila said.
Avila grew up in Midland and remembers first playing soccer and video games when he was four or five, and playing Nintendo with his older cousins. He continued both activities through high school and was in the FCD Youth System from 2010 through 2014 before attending college at The University of Texas Permian Basin. A slew of knee injuries ultimately forced him to give up playing soccer, but those setbacks only shifted his focus solely to gaming, specifically to FIFA, the most popular soccer video game in history, which was first introduced in 1993.
“That (after my third knee injury) is whenever I started focusing even more heavily on FIFA because that’s how I got my competitive drive. That’s how I expressed my love for soccer,” Avila said. “That’s when, thankfully, a game mode came out where you can rank in the top 100 in the world, and I ended up ranking in the top 100. That’s how it started. I built a name for myself. That’s when I started going to tournaments, and we’re still here.”
Avila, who also competes for Complexity Gaming, aims to reach the eMLS Cup each season, the season-ending competition where the best players from across the league compete for a championship. He’s been a fixture at the eMLS Cup during his time with FCD and, in 2021, was named an eMLS All-Star. He advises everyone who’s never seen the event to check it out.
“I’m one of the seasoned veterans in eMLS. I’ve been with Dallas for about six years,” Avila said. “I still have a lot in my tank. There’s no experience like it in the FIFA world. It’s an amazing event. MLS does an amazing job with the production, how they treat the players, the professionalism. I love it.”
Not only does Avila still enjoy every moment of his gig, but he also appreciates a fringe benefit of his job: traveling to various high-profile tournaments. One such trip was the FIFA 18 Global Series in Amsterdam, Holland. “I’ve been to Denmark, England, Germany, Spain, Holland, etc. One particular moment that stands out is going to Spain because I was able to take my dad [Fermin] with me with all expenses paid for; we shared an amazing moment together,” Avila said. “He’d never been out of the country. It was a breath of fresh air for him, but a shock. We had lunch at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid, their stadium. He was pretty amazed. He was telling his friends because of how excited he was.”
And for any young gamers who want to follow in his footsteps, Avila offers some simple, sage advice. “Enjoy every single moment. Don’t do it for the money,” he said. “Don’t do it for the status. Just do it for your own enjoyment and the rest is all a benefit. It’s all a reward from it. Just be passionate about it, focus and you’ll be good.”
Avila’s advice is spoken like a true professional, someone who loves what they do in life. We should all be so fortunate.
Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco.
